We are very excited about this JV league. We got off to a bit of a rocky start trying to balance the number of 8th graders in the league and it is still not perfect, but some of the younger teams are making adjustments, and realizing that the purpose of the league is primarily to develop as a football player and it is much better to compete against older kids to get better. You certainly may not win as much. The older brother always beats the younger brother, but in order for the older brother to really get better, he needs to play against a kid older and better than him.

So these younger kids are not dominating by any means, but boy are they getting better and the league is getting very exciting. We had two of the best youth football games I have ever seen on Sunday at McNamara on Sunday.

Game #1 Fairfax County Colts 0 vs Loudoun County Eagles 20The Colts are getting a little bit better every week, but they are going to struggle in this league this year becuase they don't have enough size and depth yet. I am excited becuase these kids just keep on fighting and improving. Dajuan James is a special talent that can play on any team in this league and star. Daiimon Cleveland is a player as well. Very tough and reliable kid. Zaan Khan has a ton of potential, as does Yzreal Hall. George Mensah showed some great potential as well.

On the Eagle side the kid Val Timshenko is a beast in the making. He has tremendous speed and athleticism. We have spoken at length about LeRon West and all of his abilities. Bryce McAlpine had a lights out game for the Eagles who dominated this game on the ground and through the air. AJ Organ played big again for the Eagles as they ran out to a big lead and never looked back.

As soon as we get a more detailed write up and stats from this game, this page will be updated.

Players of the Game

Fairfax County Colts: George Mensah Loudoun County Eagles: Bryce McAlpine

Game #2 Gorc Wildcats 14 vs Howard County Stars 39We don't have the statistics for this game yet either, so we can't get as detailed into the write ups as we would like. The Stars are loaded with talent and jumped out to a 39 - 0 lead on the Wildcats at the half. QB Micheal Toler has a lot of talent and a ton of kids to throw to and hand off to. Darius Harris is an elite TB who can score from anywhere on the field. He had a monster game for the Stars to help them get out to the big lead.

But the 2nd half actually belonged to the Wildcats who came out with reckless abandon to try to get back in it. We certainly found an elite running back in Demore Carey. The JV league has allowed some 8th graders that would not have been able to contribute to varsity to play in this league. It has been somewhat controversial, as the Stars Varsity team is so loaded that they had a number of 8th graders that met the age requirement and were allowed to play. The reality opened up opportunities for some other teams to bring 8th graders down from their Varsity teams that were not playing a lot. Demorie was one of those examples and he has taken advantage of it. Not a big kid, but tough and elusive. Very good HS prospect. The Wildcats scored twice in the second half to make it a bit exciting, but I can't wait to see these JV playoffs. Don't sleep on the 3 - 1 Wildcats.

Players of the Game

Gorc Wildcats: Demorie Carrie HC Stars: Darius Harris

Game #3 Montgomery Village Chiefs 7 vs DC Warriors 6MV was one of the best 0 - 3 teams we have ever seen. They had no desire to be 0 - 4, but after the whipping DC put on Hamilton last week, it did not look good for the MV Nation. Coach Moe and his staff came locked and ready to roll. They had Micah McNeil back for this game, which was crucial. McNeil is the real deal.

DC is loaded with talent and coach Rodney Cephas is not new to this. His son Selah is developing into a very nice DB prospect. QB Steven Williams is a flame thrower and has plenty of options to go to. Jermaine "OC" Johnson is small, but very quick and elusive. DeMarco Hellams is a playmaker and they have a big power back in Antwan Hart that is a man-child. A betting man would have taken DC in this one, but I am glad I don't bet.

Jaylen Lowry was key in the game on the defensive side and it was a true defensive struggle for most of the game. Starting QB Tyree Hanes struggled a bit on this day and was replaced by Wesley McCormick, which turned out to be a good omen for the Chiefs. McCormick was able to find a rising star in the GYFL JV league by the name of Matthew Kane. Kane impressed at that combine and comes from the Frederick Steelers to play spring ball. He not only plays on the JV, but he dresses for Varsity games as well, so he is well schooled. He made 2 super catches to put the Chiefs in position to hand close with the Warriors, but the big play came late in the 4th when he went after a bomb up the left hash that was a bit inside. He made an adjustment on the ball, jumped inside and caught it, then weaved his way into the end zone for the game winning TD.

This was truly a nail biter, but the Chiefs were able to hold on to the slim lead in the end and get the much needed victory.

Game #4 Marlboro Mustangs 19 vs Hamilton Tigers 20This was really the game of the year. We thought the HC Stars vs Hamilton game was the game of the year. Then we though the Hamilton vs MV game was the game of the year. Heck, it seems like any game that Hamilton plays in is the game of the year. But, this one was truly a classic. The other games were defensive struggles with only one TD.

This bad boy was exciting from beginning to end. This game gave us a couple of more examples of why we don't do grades in the JV. Our initial plan is to max out the number of 8th graders who play in the league at 5, for example, so that no team will have an advantage. We didn't get it perfect in the first year, but I am glad we made some adjustments becuase had we not, there are a couple kids that we would have never seen play.

I for one would have been sick if I never got a chance to see Tyrone Roper play football at the youth club level. This kid is spectacular to say the least. He is only 13 years old and won't turn 14 until July. Although he is in the 8th grade, he is a very young 8th grader who was not on our radar screen....... until now. Boy did he run that ball like a man possessed and with something to prove. He started the scoring off with a power and speed run right up the middle. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at first, because Marlboro had not shown us much resistance in the first 2 games. They got a win over Fairfax but it was not impressive and it looked on paper like they would get blown out of their. The first run by Roper confirmed it.

But then something happened. Coach Theo Blount is not a fan of losing games and he has two sons that can flat out play, Terrell and Tyrik. The oldest Terrell is an 8th grader that fit our age cutoff and that Marlboro needed to balance the league out a bit. I had heard about the Blount kid and word was that he was pretty good. I just hadn't seen him in pads to evaluate myself. Boy did it see it on Sunday. Blount was throwing TD's off of his back foot. He was making great decisions. He ran when he needed to and threaded the needle when it called for it. Blount kept his team withing striking distance of the Tigers the whole game.

Tyler Woodard, the QB of the Tigers has a very impressive physical body and throws a nice ball too. He made 3 deep throws that looked like they had a chance to be caught, but were not. Both coaches played chess with each other as the score was tied deep in the 4th quarter at 13. Roper finally scored again to make it 20 - 13 with a little over a minute on the clock. The kid Blount went to work with a series of short passes and timely runs. Before we knew it the Mustangs were in scoring positions with only seconds left. Blount made the play of the day with a perfectly timed TD pass to close the gap to 1 point. With no time left on the clock, the Mustangs went for the extra point and came up short! What a game!!!! We found two more ballers! Blount and Roper are fierce. Word is that with Rober being so young that he may consider reclassifying. The thought of Jamaine Jeter and Tyrone Roper in the same backfield is just frightening!!!!!!!!!